Читать книгу Walking in Austria. 101 routes - day walks, multi-day treks and classic hut-to-hut tours онлайн

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Austria’s Alps

With more than 40,000km of well-maintained, waymarked footpaths; with countless attractive villages, hospitable hotels, inns and restaurants, pristine campsites, the world’s finest chain of mountain huts, an integrated public transport system, and breathtaking scenic variety, Austria must surely count as one of Europe’s most walker-friendly countries.

It’s a country of great diversity, whose mountains range from gentle grass-covered ‘hills’ of around 2000m, to rugged limestone spires and turrets erupting from a fan of scree, or snow-draped, glacier-clad peaks whose reflections are cast in crystal-clear lakes. In their valleys some of the continent’s loveliest villages are hung about with flowers in summer. On mid-height hillsides centuries-old timber haybarns and stone-built chalets squat among the pastures; these are the alms which add an historic dimension to the landscape. Elsewhere, heavy-eaved farmhouses double as restaurants; some provide accommodation in a rustic setting, and complement the hundreds of mountain huts built in remote locations, virtually every one of which exploits a viewpoint of bewitching beauty.